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AL Power Rankings: Angels, A's and Tigers will be watching to see who climbs the rankings and meets them in the playoffs

Huston Street

San Diego Padres relief pitcher Huston Street delivers during the ninth inning of an interleague baseball game against the Chicago White Sox on Friday, May 30, 2014, in Chicago. Street was dealt to the Los Angeles Angels last Friday. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)
(Charles Rex Arbogast)

It is too early to make anything official. If you're the Oakland A's, Los Angeles Angels, or Detroit Tigers you've got to be feeling pretty good about your chances of making the playoffs.

For the next 11 weeks, American League baseball fans will spend the bulk of their time focusing on either the race for AL West superiority between the A's and Angels, or the anyone's guess, who-knows-what-will-happen, five-team, winner-take-all, AL East race.

The league's second wild card entry could come out of the AL East, but there's no reason for any of the division's teams to count on that. What the Boston Red Sox, New York Yankees, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles, and Tampa Bay Rays can count on, is that if they win their division, they get into the playoffs.

Just 7.5 games separate all five teams. The two teams at the bottom of the standings each have legit Cy Young candidates in David Price and Jon Lester. The Orioles have MVP candidate Nelson Cruz, and the Yankees and Blue Jays would have legit MVP and Cy Young candidates if Masahiro Tanaka and Edwin Encarnacion weren't both injured.

Here we are in late July, and there's no shortage of teams in the playoff hunt. Forget the fire-sales, here come the pennant races.

No. 1: Oakland A's (61-37) 1st place, AL West. LW: No. 1

The short week didn't provide much time for the A's to fall from their spot atop the rankings.

For their part, the A's emerged from the All-Star break playing the same caliber of baseball they played for nearly the entire first half of the season. Oakland won two of three against the AL East-leading Orioles.

The Angels have paired the A's divisional lead down to just 1.5 games. The A's next nine games are against the two worst teams in the league, the Rangers and Astros. Look for Oakland to take advantage.

No. 2: Los Angeles Angels (59-38) 2nd place, AL West. LW: No. 2

The Angels are engaged in a game of "can you top this?" with division rival Oakland.

The key to the deal was closer Huston Street. The Angels are hoping that Street can anchor a bullpen that the Angels have been trying to improve all season. L.A. had already acquired former Pittsburgh Pirates closer Jason Grilli.

The moves by the Angels are similar to the bullpen overhaul that the St. Louis Cardinals went through during the 2011 regular season. That Cardinals team also needed bullpen help, once they got it they were able to get into the playoffs and eventually win the World Series.

Are the Angels headed for a similar destiny?

No. 3: Detroit Tigers (54-41) 1st place, AL Central. LW: No. 3

It is beginning to look like the Tigers' biggest concern won't be making the playoffs. It will be whether or not they can advance once they get there. In spite of a somewhat disappointing regular season, the Tigers own the biggest first-place cushion of any division leader in the majors.

Detroit has a 5.5 game lead over second place Cleveland. Could the Indians catch Detroit? They could, but they probably won't.

Then again, unless Detroit can fill a few holes in their lineup, get more consistent performances from their bullpen and figure out exactly what's wrong with Justin Verlander, they're probably heading for another disappointing playoff result in October.

No. 4: Baltimore Orioles (53-44) 1st place, AL East. LW: No. 4

The Orioles are at the top of a division that is completely up for grabs. Every squad has weaknesses, and every squad has strengths.

Baltimore's weakness is pitching. The A's took full advantage of that last weekend. The A's scored 19 runs and won two of three games. Baltimore's offense has allowed them to hold onto first place in the AL East, but their lead is slim, and their pitching isn't good enough to get them to the World Series.

It might not be good enough to get them into the playoffs in the first place.

No. 5: Seattle Mariners (52-46) 3rd place, AL West. LW: No. 5

Yes, that's three AL West teams ranked among the top five teams in the American League. The AL West is the new AL East. It's the epicenter of not just the best teams in the American League, but quite possibly all of baseball.

As good as Seattle is, they're clearly not in the same class as their first and second place division rivals. Last weekend the Mariners played in three games all decided by one-run against second place Los Angeles. The Mariners lost two of them, and that was to an Angels squad that had yet to utilize newly acquired closer Huston Street.

The Tanaka-less Yankees are off to a very encouraging start. New York busted out of the All-Star break by winning three in a row against the Cincinnati Reds. Two of the wins were one-run nail biters. The other was a very encouraging 7-1 win, highlighted by a dominant start from recently acquired Brandon McCarthy.

It probably helped that the Reds were playing without two of their best offensive players, Joey Votto and Brandon Phillips. A win is still a win, and with seven of their next 10 games against the major league-worst Texas Rangers, the Yankees might be poised to string together a number of valuable W's.

No. 7: Toronto Blue Jays (51-48) 2nd place (tie) AL East. LW: No. 7

There's the Blue Jays of May, and then there's the Blue Jays of March and April, June and July. The 21-9 May version has kept the 30-39 Blue Jays of the other four months afloat in the AL East.

That won't last all season though. Yes, they're only three games out of first place, but Toronto is struggling. Their offense has been decimated by injuries. Their pitching isn't that good even when healthy.

The Jays need to acquire players to legitimately contend for the playoffs. Sunday morning, general manager Alex Anthopoulos told assembled media that the Jays were having dialogue with other teams, but that no trade was imminent.

That's probably of little comfort to Jays fans who can read both the AL East standings and a calendar. Toronto has 10 days to make whatever moves they're going to make. If they stand pat, then Toronto will be watching other teams in the playoffs this fall. Just like they've done in every season since 1993.

No. 8: Cleveland Indians (50-48) 2nd place, AL Central. LW: No. 8

Last season, Cleveland won 92 games and ended up in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. They were just 51-44 at the All-Star break, but a 41-26 second half catapulted Cleveland into the playoffs.

This year the Indians were 47-47 at the break. They're already 3-1 coming out of it. Perhaps the Terry Francona-led Indians are determined to spend their years eternally trying to make up for the second half collapse of Francona's 2011 Red Sox?

Unfortunately for the Indians, in order for them to make the playoffs, they not only have to play great baseball, but other teams have to falter as well. Can Cleveland really be counting on another second-half surge to get them back to the playoffs?

The Indians have some very marketable players in Justin Masterson and Asdrubal Cabrera. Dealing them would send a signal that upper management was more focused on future seasons than the current one. The Indians aren't giving up yet, at least not publicly, but that could all change over the next 10 days.

Below .500, seven games out of first place, and 3.5 games out of the wild card: The Royals are fading and it couldn't come at a worse time. The last thing a franchise that hasn't made the playoffs since 1985 wants to tell their fan base is "let's wait until next year."

Unfortunately, that might be the smartest path for the Royals. Kansas City could take advantage of valuable assets such as James Shields and Alex Gordon. Trading either of them would bring the Royals a very good return. That's not going to appease fans who have watched a never-ending cycle of young talent fall short of the playoffs for nearly 30 years.

The Royals are stuck between a rock and a hard place. They're not going to raise the white flag on this season, but they'll still probably be watching other teams in the playoffs come October.

No. 10: Chicago White Sox (47-52) 4th place, AL Central. LW: No. 10

The White Sox aren't all that much worse than the Royals. Just two games separate them in the standings. The White Sox are working with the advantage of a fan base that understands what the team is trying to accomplish.

The White Sox are not looking to win this year. They're going to spend the rest of July pursuing deals which will add young talent to a roster that will be built around ace starting pitcher Chris Sale, and Rookie of the Year favorite Jose Abreu.

Veterans Gordon Beckham, Dayan Viciedo and Alexei Ramirez could all be on the move.

Chicago could easily fall further down the power rankings, but they're on a path to moving up the rankings in the not so distant future.

No. 11: Tampa Bay Rays (47-53) 4th place, AL East. LW: No.12 (+1)

The same Rays team that looked all but done a month ago, yup, that's the same Rays team that is now just 7.5 games out of first place.

Tampa Bay is 11-4 in July. David Price takes the mound once every five days knowing he will probably get no run support, and it could be his final start in a Rays uniform. Then, he dominates whatever unlucky team he's facing.

The Rays offense has begun to click. They're hitting .284 in July, the third best mark in the AL. Jeremy Hellickson and Alex Cobb are both back in the starting rotation. When they've been good, the Rays get exceptional pitching and just enough offense to win a fair amount of games. The Rays team ERA is 3.16 in July.

Tampa is playing well enough to compete, but did they dig themselves too deep a hole through the first three months of the season? Will they trade Price and officially start to think about next year, or will they keep him and try and win the AL East? One thing is for sure: They've got a lot of options.

No. 12: Boston Red Sox (46-52) 5th place, AL East. LW: No. 13 (+1)

In 2011, the Red Sox had one of the largest regular season collapses in major league history. In 2012, they were a last-place team. Last season they won the World Series. Is this the season they pull off one of the better regular season comebacks in recent memory?

More importantly, will Red Sox GM Ben Cherington make any moves to help facilitate that type of comeback?

As bad as the Red Sox have been -- and make no mistake about it, they've been bad -- they're still just 7.5 games out of first place. They've also got what might be the best pitching in the division. If Clay Buchholz is really back to his early 2013 form, then the Red Sox will be very tough to score runs off of.

Dating back to the day the Red Sox announced that catcher A.J. Pierzynski had been designated for assignment, the Red Sox are 7-1. That's great, but they've also been beating up on the likes of the White Sox, Astros and Royals.

The real test is coming. The Red Sox next 13 games are against the Blue Jays, Rays and Yankees. If they keep on winning they'll be far removed from last place by the time Aug. 1 rolls around.

The Twins are going to be a team to watch for the next 10 days. Will they move Josh Willingham or Kendrys Morales or Phil Hughes? One thing is for sure. The Twins are a team content to wait for their own prospects to mature.

Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton will be offensive stars. Can Alex Meyer, Jose Berrios and Kohl Stewart all develop into solid major league pitchers?

The Twins seem more than happy to wait and find out.

No. 14: Houston Astros (41-58) 4th place, AL West. LW: No. 14

On the field, things are going as expected. The Astros aren't very good. Their lineup is too young and swings at way too many bad pitches. Their pitching is also too young. They're not a very good team, at least not yet.

Off the field things are actually going worse.

If your team's mission is to rebuild via the draft and the development of young players, then you'd probably want to sign your first round draft pick. especially when that pick was the No. 1 overall pick. It's also important when that pick is a 17-year-old, once-a-generation, left-handed starting pitcher like Brady Aiken.

Put simply, if you're not rebuilding via free agency and you're not rebuilding via the draft, then what exactly are you doing? Yes, the Astros have a talent-rich minor league system, but their major league team has lost 100 or more games for three years in a row, and the 2014 team is probably going to lose close to 100 games.

Houston needed Aiken badly, and now he's gone.

No. 15: Texas Rangers (39-59) 5th place AL West. LW: No. 15

The highlight of All-Star week for the Rangers was the performance of slugger Joey Gallo. He followed up some jaw-dropping batting practice long balls with one that counted. All of that happened at the Major League Futures Game.

At this point, there probably aren't too many players in the Texas Rangers organization that general manager Jon Daniels wouldn't trade. Yu Darvish, Adrian Beltre, Jurickson Profar, Derek Holland and Gallo: Once you get past those names, the possibilities are endless.

Closer Joakim Soria is one player that will get lots of attention between now and Aug. 1. Daniels will also get questions about shortstop Elvis Andrus. Given all the injuries the Rangers have had this season, it probably makes a lot more sense for them to not blow-up their team.

They're going to be both healthier and better in 2015, if they can add a starting pitcher in the offseason, they could be in the hunt for the playoffs again as well.

This season is all but over in Texas. Don't expect any earth-shattering trades. Do expect Joey Gallo to keep hitting home runs and do expect Yu Darvish to keep piling up strikeouts.